Category Archives: Interviews

Articles, Interviews

Altern 8 Interview at TR-99’s Trauma

Last August Altern 8 visited Los Angeles courtesy of TR-99’s Trauma party. It was a great honor meeting these guys, as Altern 8 unalterably shaped rave culture by ways of the massive impact of their music and persona. I lucked into a thorough interview (hence the delay in upload) with Mark Archer and Josh Doherty before they would play that night, and here is what they had to say…

How about a history lesson on what you were doing in the late ’80s – early ’90s that made Altern-8?

Mark:  It started in ’89 working with Chris Peat, one of the original members of Altern-8. We were working together as ‘Nexus 21’. I was heavily influenced by Detroit Techno at the time. We were owed some studio time where we were working, Blue Chip Studios, Stafford. We went in, and made about nine or ten tracks. It had further influences than just Detroit Techno, so we didn’t want to call it Nexus 21. That way it wouldn’t dilute what we were doing as the other group.

We were going to call ourselves Alien-8, because Chris was in a rock band called Alien-8. When the label sent the tune to be pressed, they didn’t do any DJ promos, anything like that, came back with all the sleeves. They phoned us up and said, “The records are here.” Drove down to Birmingham where the label was based, opened the box, pulled it out, it said ‘Altern-8’ on the top. The name came round by mistake, really.

Altern-8 at TR-99's Trauma
Altern-8 at TR-99’s Trauma. Photo by Peter Vincent.

It was just originally as a side-project, but the first EP had eight tracks on it, so a lot of DJs were buying it purely because there wre eight tracks you could play rather than one 12-inch that maybe had one mix that you could play, so it was really good value for money. When we did a follow-up, a lot of the DJs were already waiting for the follow-up, which was Infiltrate 202. It just went from there. We did that, and then we needed a follow-up, then we did Activ-8. Activ-8 got in the UK charts, so we started touring around the UK and around the world, and it took off a bit.

I remember you guys were on the cover of magazines, even here in the States and in Canada. What was the hysteria all about? Why were people so into you at the time?

Josh: Activ-8, I think, had sold enough copies that it would have gone to number one most weeks of the year, but it happened to be released the same week as the biggest British comedy act doing a thing, I think, and the new Michael Jackson single, so we got stuck at number three. Whereas a week earlier, a week later, it would have been a number one hit. There was a massive amount of hype around that time.

Mark: I think it was because we had the suits, which wasn’t planned. There was something really mysterious about the fact that people didn’t know who was making all the techno back then. There was very little known about it, so we took it to the ultimate by having the suits on. You couldn’t see who we were at all. There was a lot of hype and we did a lot of pranks, like giving away hot air. We were in a hot air balloon, and we were throwing Christmas puddings from it. There was the whole thing about the record label boss’s daughter, who was three at the time, saying, “Top one, nice one, get sorted” on the record, which was a phrase about people going out to raves.

Josh: Also, the rave scene was the last time that there was a huge social movement connected with a music scene in the UK. The government was really “anti-rave” and our look was “anti-establishment” as well, so people really connected with it.

How did you get into this? How did you find yourself in that wave of history?

Mark: There seemed to be a natural progression from early ’80s electro, soul, funk etc. People who were into that were, say, into like the early Chicago House stuff, including hip-hop. It kind of went hand-in-hand; banging to De La Soul and Public Enemy respectively. Then it went on to Acid House. After ’88, there was a lot of backlash about Acid House, but it kept progressing each year. ‘89 saw the arrival of Detroit Techno: the Belgians were making a lot of music and the Italians did this “Italo” House thing. There were so many influences at one time.

You were making music at that time?

Mark: Yeah. Yeah. I was making stuff in ’88, we were doing Acid House and stuff different names.

There was something where you guys were running for office?

Mark: That was just another way to get your name in the papers. If you have a single out, people will be promoting it, but when you don’t they won’t write about you. Every time, we had a prank, it was just a way to get your name out there so people remembered you between each single. The elections were going on, so Chris ran for the local elections in Stafford.

Josh:He didn’t come last, did he?

Mark: No. There’s a party called the Natural Law Party, and we actually beat them and they were being serious, and there we were.They were pissed.

Why is he not part of Altern-8 now?

Mark: In late ’93, I was recording under the name DJ Nex, Xen Mantra, I was doing House stuff with Danny Taurus under the name Slo Moshun. I was doing loads of different things, while Chris was getting more into computers. We had musical differences also. I wanted to go a certain direction – he was just interested in computers – so we stopped doing Altern-8 and revived Nexus 21. That didn’t happen so we stopped working together. I carried on DJ’ing ever since, recording under different names, but not recording any new material as Altern-8, Then in 2008, I played at a party Josh promotes in London called ‘I Love Acid’, and from there we started talking again. Now we’re doing the Altern-8 live shows again.

Are you going to come out with new Altern-8 music?

There’s a track in the [Trauma] live set which is brand new, right bang in the middle. We’re also working on an album.

Are you going to team up with any artists from back in the day?

Mark: Yeah, I’ve been working with some guys from Unique 3, Forgemasters, LFO, Rhythmatics, under the name The Originators.

There was something extra imbued into the Altern-8 sound that wasn’t just in all the other rave music. There seemed to be some bigger ideas behind it. Was that my imagination or was that actually going on?

Josh : A lot of that’s got to do with where some of the samples and the sounds are sourced from. There’s lots of really soulful House and Detroit Techno and bit and pieces like that that have gone in there. There’s something a little bit extra in them. I fucking love most of that old Hardcore, people like DJ DMS and stuff like Production House, but the source material of what they’re sampling was often other rave tunes, and it didn’t really reach back much further. The Altern-8 stuff just had a little more reach in where it was pulling tracks from. That’s my opinion, anyway.

Mark: At the time, I was just making tracks that I liked the sound of. The fact that people liked them was just … we just seemed to be doing something right and carried on doing it.

Are you just doing this one track?

Mark: Oh no, we’re going to be working on an album, get Full On … Mask Hysteria remixed and re-mastered. Get that out, and then work on new material for the new album.

Are you going to aim this material at the old schoolers, or are you going to aim it at kids?

Josh:  We’re just going to write tunes that we like.

Mark: There’s no point trying to follow trends or push it to a certain market. Just like we did back then, you just made tunes that you liked and you hoped worked on the dance floor.

Josh: Both of us are producing other stuff anyway, so if we end up writing something Housey or Techno or something, it will just end up going under one of the other aliases. You don’t even have to go into the studio and go, “Must be Breakbeat,” because if something else works, then you just do something else with it.

Is there anything that you wish you could do over from that time? Or wish that you could do now?

Mark: If I had known how well the gig we played out here in ’92 went down … It was only after we were getting letters from people in LA, saying how good … from where we were on the stage, I didn’t think we did that well. At the end of our gigs, we used to come to the front of the stage and greet fans, but because it didn’t look like we did well, we just scurried off stage. Apparently, we blew that many people’s heads. If we somehow knew, we could’ve enjoyed it a hell of a lot more, gone out and met people etc. That’s probably the only thing.

What’s been your best memory throughout your musical journey?

Mark: The first time we played Downingtown Park, UK. That was our first big gig, and it was in a massive warehouse.

Josh: I played at a festival called Bloc in 2009, and the crowds were singing along to all the tunes. This was coming on after Skream & Benga, they were doing a dubstep thing, which was the most hyped music at the time. I was thinking, “I’m playing a bunch of old-school records after they just absolutely smashed it. I’m going to go down like a lead balloon.” But it just went off. This year, we ended a stage on Sunday night at Glastonbury, amid like 30,000 people

So what can we look forward to tonight?

Josh: All the classics, but they’ll be mashed up and changed a bit. The lucky thing is that the technology now is better than it was.

Mark: You’d have to take on a full studio on stage back in the day, whereas now you don’t have to.

Josh: A couple of laptops. There’s only so much that we can bring up. 303s and stuff stay at home.

Mark: All the tunes that hopefully people will remember. Different versions and a few surprises, and obviously the new tune in the middle.

All right then, top one, nice one, get sorted on iTunes!

From there, Altern 8 then prepped their set and later rocked and wowwed the crowd at Trauma.

Additional editing was done by DJ Daybreaker.

All photos in this article were shot by Peter Vincent.

Articles, Interviews

Leo Corson Interview

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In my mind, Leo Corson is one of the main people responsible for the current popularity of the harder styles in North America. As a tireless advocate of hard dance music, he was once known as DJ Dutchboy and then as Used & Abused. Now, he’s a booking agent for Corson Agency and Circle Talent Agency. 

How did you get into the rave scene in the first place?

I went out to my first rave in 1994 or ’95. It was called Angies Urbal Jungle. From then, I kept going to raves. Insomniac was also throwing their first events around this time. I immediately fell in love with hardcore, the high energy 170-180 BPM stuff and some of the early rave sounds. I did a lot of things within the rave scene: I worked events, I did flyers, I worked in a booth selling necklaces and glow sticks, etc.

When did the music come in?

In 1997 or 1998, I happened to be working a show. Lenny Dee, DJ Isaac and G-Town Madness were booked for this. I met them, took them out the day after the show, and then I was invited to go to Holland. Holland is where I started really becoming a DJ because I was able to bring back all of this vinyl and white labels back to America. I started playing out as Dutchboy, my first show being in 1998, Neverland. Then around 2000, the music started to change: a big influence from Germany. People like Cosmic Gate started making 138 BPM music and then that morphed into what we know today as hardstyle, but it was a lot slower at first. A lot of the hardcore guys decided to switch to this sound. This started in about 1999, but it didn’t really become classified as hardstyle until about 2002 when it really started to take off. Then I switched as well and changed my name to ‘Used & Abused’, but I still played hardcore as Dutchboy. Then around 2003-2004, I opened up a record store on Melrose, Underground Culture. But at this time, vinyl was starting to die.

When did you establish Corson Agency?

2008. At the same time I set up the label Hard Dance Nation; that was the conduit that allowed us to do events and tours. We also release music for North American hard dance artists.

When was Hard Dance Nation’s first show?

In 2008 as well, when I became 30. It was “XXX,” Roman numerals for the age that I turned. That was the first show that was all hardstyle, hardcore, and hard dance, which took place on the ninth of August, 2008.

What was the biggest challenge to getting harder music more accepted in America?

It was easier in the early 2000’s because the different styles were all around the same BPM, the general speed being around 135 BPM. Trance, techno, and club house was 135, hardstyle was 138. You could mix it all together. Then in the mid 2000’s, everything kind of splintered off and it got even more splintered as we go into the teens. Now we have 128 on one side, and 150 on the other. That’s a broad spectrum. You can’t pitch the music up or down too much. I think that’s the biggest challenge. For a lot of people, 150 is a bit much. But luckily, we have a lot of fans in LA especially that like it.

What’s been the most gratifying thing that’s happened over these last years as an agent?

Putting on Basscon in association with Insomniac… when you see the show practically sell out the Hollywood Palladium! Starting from really small raves and struggling to get the music recognized, then seeing promoters like Insomniac push it further, that’s a great feeling.

What would you like to see more of in the Hard Dance community?

I would like to see less bullshit and less fighting, because I think that’s going to ruin the scene faster than anything. The flaming online and the shit talking and this whole rawstyle versus this whole … you know what? It’s fucking music. We’re all on the same boat. It doesn’t matter what sound it is, who this guy is, who that guy is. I think that we need to let go and support each other. It’s the same thing that I faced back in the 2000’s. You had the people who like gabber and they would punch these happy hardcore kids in the face because they’re wearing furries and beads. That’s not PLUR. It’s not positive and it’s not a very good representation when you do those types of things. I even heard that there was a fight at Nocturnal between two hardstyle crews. I heard, I’m not going to call you people out, but I heard that there was an actual fight?! I mean, there’s a fight between two people who like the same thing! But you guys think you’re better than the other? I think that is something I would like to see stop, because I’m not doing this so guys can have a place to fight each other and measure their dicks.

You mentioned to me in an email that you  teach a course in music business.

Unbeknownst to most, I have a Master’s degree.

An MBA?

It’s an MBA, but it’s called Music Industry Administration. It a 60-40 split of the MBA program and music. It focuses on publishing, licensing, copyrights, mechanical licensing, contracting, entertainment law, and stuff like that. I spoke twice at Icon Collective, a school in Burbank. They were looking to expand their music business department. It’s actually very important when these kids grow up and want to make music and want to DJ, to understand that there is a business side of it. So they gave me a job opportunity, and I took it. It’s a good way to give back to the community.

What’s on the horizon for Hard Dance in 2016?

We are already starting to book things in advance. I can’t really divulge one-hundred percent, but I can tell you that you’ll see more Basscon stages at more Insomniac events. I know Insomniac is the only major US promoter that is really putting an effort into pushing this sound so far. As long as the fans come out and support the harder artists, even if there is only one act per show, that will really help push things forward. We are a small group of dedicated people right now and the only way that we are going to help expand is by supporting the best we can and in any way we can. Go out and support the music you love for god sake!  Another thing I want to address: the fans. I know you are so die hard but you can’t be so angry when we can’t get someone booked. Visas are very difficult to get these days. There’s a finite amount of visas that customs and immigration services can give out. It’s expensive. We have to prove that we’re not stealing an American job.  It’s very highly protected. This law was enacted in the 70’s to protect American workers and musicians. Realize it’s not that we don’t want to bring them, it’s that they might not be able to get the visa that is required or can make the payments. There is a business side of things. The government does hold a lot of sway that we can’t circumvent. Keep that in mind.

Do you have any advice for those wanting to get involved with music?

If you’re an aspiring DJ, you should focus on producing instead. You can’t just go out and get the cool vinyl, white labels, and promos. Producing is what’s important. If you’re an aspiring hardstyle or hardcore producer, just get your music out there. It’s so easy these days. The more Americans and Canadians that actually step up and produce seriously, I think the rest of the world will take our hard dance community more serious. Stay professional and clean on social media. The more professional we look, the more the international community will look at us with that same seriousness. This music does come from the Netherlands. They have high standards, REALLY high. They will look down on all of us if you don’t hold yourself similar. Collaborate more. I think that’s really, really, really important.

Any last words before we depart?

I want to thank all the fans because a lot of them know me personally. I go out and they always thank me for what I do. I appreciate them as well. I don’t need the recognition. I do it, partly and sadly, because no one else has stepped up to do it. You guys show a lot of respect and in return I want to do that for you. Thank you.

Editing on this article was also done by DJ Daybreaker.

Articles, Interviews

DJ Buzz Fuzz: The Trauma Harder Styles 2016 Interview

This interview was conducted back in August of 2015 by Mindcontroller when Buzz Fuzz and a few other names on this current line up of the Trauma tour first came through the US. Seeing as it is important to get to know who you’re going to go see, let this be the manifest of the legendary Buzz Fuzz so that you can pay your proper respects when he rolls through your town! Buzz Fuzz will be appearing this Friday, February 19th in Mesa, Arizona. February 20th in Denver Colorado. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on the 26th, and closing in Brooklyn, New York, February 27th! Hard en heerlijk!

Artist dates for the Trauma Tour
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What year did you get into DJing/the Rave scene?
1987. I was playing hip-hop, swing beat, and R&B in a religious club.  The rave portion started in 1991 where we played Hardcore/House.

What came first DJ or producing?
DJing. Then I started producing in 1993 with The Prophet.

What drew you to the Hardcore techno sound?
My ex girlfriend, actually. She invited me out. At the time, I didn’t know anything about “raving”. I went to the show and The Prophet was playing. At that point, I said, “Yes! This is going to be it.” I haven’t been out since.

What inspired the name Buzz Fuzz? Is there a meaning behind it?
It was found in quick thinking. The guy who organizes the parties for ISB, the Hellraisers stuff, said he needed a new DJ, but I needed a name! I had this record from King B, and it said it’s the king ‘B’ for buzz and fuzz and since my last name is Vos, I decided to take those two words.

Who was your biggest inspiration in the early part of your career?

The Prophet, he was the first one to show me how everything works.

What was your first DJ gig as Buzz Fuzz?

It was in 1991 for ISB, the Hellraiser guy: ‘The Bloom Party’, and The Prophet said, “I was supposed to play with Dano, but he’s got the flu. You bring your three turntables and I’ll bring my three.”, so we’ve got six turntables and two mixers, and we connected it all together and played for six hours.

What’s the funniest moment you ever had during one of your performances?
One time I was playing in Amsterdam, and I was really fucked up; I could hardly stand. I was into vodka, pills, and stuff. Lenny D said, “Oh my god Buzz, are you going to be able to play?” I said, “Just get me to the turntables!”, and I played a marvelous set. No mistakes. Then I collapsed right at the end.

What would you consider your best DJ gig to date? Thunderdome in Hamburg, and Dance Valley.

DJ Buzz Fuzz performing for Thunderdome in Florida.
Buzz Fuzz playing in Thunderdome Florida!

What’s your favorite collaboration?
My work with The Prophet. We made a lot of tracks in his studio. When we get together it’s like magic. We would finish two tracks a day! And Gizmo of course. We made seven tracks in two days. One of them was Brand New Dance. We were really fucked up but the track was, and is, still awesome.

Hardcore has really changed since the ’90s. What’s your take on today’s Hardcore scene?
I think mainstream Hardcore has gotten too simple. Everybody’s producing the same style. And there is even more mainstream now.

Out of the new batch of DJs and producers out there, who’s your favorite? Whose sound stands out the most?
Angerfist. I discovered him. I was playing in Austria, where I received a stack of demo CDs. One was a double CD (Angerfist’s). It blew my mind. I referred him to Art of Dance. He became my protege, but that didn’t last long, he was already very good.

Any current projects?
My label, BZRK Records! It was laying low for a while, but now it’s back! I’m doing some collaborations with some new artists for it. The future looks promising.

Are you going to do any updated versions of some of your classics?
Oh yeah! Frequencies, an XTC Love remix by Deepack, and Brand New Dance.

What advice would you give to any up-and-coming hardcore producers?
Think with your heart, not your brain. That’s the main point. When you’re good enough, you can make it. Don’t try to copy. Be yourself.

 

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Catch Buzz Fuzz on the last four dates of the Trauma Tour!
Articles, Interviews

DJ Deadly Buda: Interview from Trauma: Harder Styles Tour 2016

What inspired your stage name?

Back in the late 1980’s-early 90’s, people knew me as “Buda” when I wrote graffiti. So when I started DJing I wanted to have a tough, kung-fu sounding DJ name like, “Grandmaster Flash” so I put “Deadly” in front of Buda.

Were you a DJ first, or a producer?

Well, I tried to make music on a 4-track recorder, with a guitar and drum machine, and had a punk rock band, but… I guess I would really have to say DJ because I started scratching up my parents records after I saw people breakdancing, and that was really my first step into music.

Turbo Zen Soul Flyer
Buda’s artwork for the Turbo Zen parties.

How did you get into the scene?

Really I had to help make the scene in America. That was 1991 and things were just starting over in UK and Europe a few years earlier, and we wanted to make raves and techno big over here. In my case, Pittsburgh, PA. So we got our friends together and threw a party. People responded and that led to other things like writing for magazines, fanzines, owning record shops, DJing, producing, etc.

Soul BackWhat was the first record you ever purchased?

I think Kiss Alive 2 or Dynasty.

Who was your biggest inspiration in the early part of your career?

The early PCP and Dance Ecstacy 2001 sound. All the stuff that Lenny Dee had a hand in, The Under One Sky/Groove crew, Caspar Pound, Woody McBride, Zekt, Underground Resistance, Plus 8.

Deadly Buda Trauma Dates
Deadly Buda Trauma Dates

Would you describe your first DJ gig?

I was 15 and playing in a bar in Shaler, PA with my friend Sean Payne. It was before rave or techno. His Dad was a DJ and we were just introducing scratching/mixing to the crowd for the first time. I totally messed up! But Sean started breakdancing and the crowd forgave me.

What was your favorite party you’ve ever played? Why?

Probably Catastrophic’s New Years 1993/94, in Washington DC. Not a lot of people talk about Catastrophic these days, but their raves in D.C. were the most insane, gigantic, illegal events. The Baez brothers were sons of a diplomat and could get away with all kinds of stuff. So it was the first time I ever played out of Pittsburgh, and it was a massive 5000+ crowd in a warehouse. I laid it on super hardcore going into midnight and me and the crowd went nuts. I wasn’t nervous at all, strangely, I just laid down the law that night! Also the sets I played at Even Furthur, the same night as the legendary Daft Punk show and the year previous.

What was the funniest moment during any of your performances?

Well it wasn’t’ my set, it was my buddy Controlled Weirdness’s set at Morph 1. This guy who DJed a few of the parties in Pittsburgh back then took too much of something and decided he would just walk up to the decks and start playing in the middle of CW’s set! Like he ducked down to get his next record and then this nutter just jumped on the decks! There were some other stories, but I gotta wait for the statute of limitations to expire before I say!

What important changes have you witnessed from the time you got into the scene, until now?

Well, it’s more corporate. That is good and bad. It helps bring more money into the scene, but can homogenize things. The trick really is for everyone to organize their own corporations to compete, and that should make things better and better, I think. We’ll see.

High Voltage Front
Deadly Buda’s flyer artwork from back in the day!

Did you ever think you would be touring the United States? What do you think the Trauma Tour will be like?

I’m only playing two dates, but I am writing a journal of the whole tour, to document it. I’m not sure what it will be like, I just know it hasn’t been done yet, and so I want to preserve the memory.

What made you want to start producing Hardcore music?

I just wanted to express myself through that creative endeavor. After you DJ a while, you naturally want things to sound “your way.”

High Voltage BackWhat is your favorite track that you have produced?

It’s a toss up between Style is Terrifik, Esto es Los Angeles, and My Theory

What advice would you give to up and coming Hardcore producers?

I’m not sure if I can give the best advice here, because my path has been a long and circuitous one. If you are looking for advice on how to get from point A to point B fast, I’m not your guy. If you want stories about planting seeds in the underground, maybe that I can give advice.

Have any of the other artists on the Trauma tour ever inspired your work? If so, how?

Lenny Dee was doing 25+ years ago what we are doing now. I often find I’m playing stuff or interested in stuff that Lenny was on the case of months or years previous. I should say that many of the new artists from Italy are very inspiring to me now, too. I think it’s a golden time for hardcore, right here, right now.

What are your top 3 favorite tracks of all time? Why?

Party People – Marc et Claude

We have Arrived – Mescalinum United (Aphex Twin Remix)

Vortex-Final Exposure

What was your favorite track of 2015 (that wasn’t your own)?

Mad Dog’s Good Ol’ Times

Are there any exciting projects or gigs coming up you want our readers to know about?

Well, The Hard Data magazine and website is all about the harder dance styles, so I’m pushing that hard. We need a communication node! I might be coming out with some comics soon, too.

What artists would you like to collaborate with that you haven’t already?

The Traxtorm/Next Cyclone crew, and after all this time I’d like to work on some stuff with Lenny Dee finally if he ever stops flying around the world long enough for me to catch up with him!

If there’s anything we haven’t asked, what else would you like to say to the readers of The Hard Data?

Share The HARD DATA with your friends, and write and take pictures for the magazine and website. When I look back at all the years, I notice that the one thing that really makes a scene pop is when it has a ‘zine or two that people can bug out with. Don’t take it for granted, make it better by contributing!

Check out Deadly Buda’s special mix for the Trauma Tour:

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/245986345″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

Articles, Events, Interviews

MC Mike Redman Interview on the Trauma Harder Styles Tour 2016

What inspired your stage name?
This is actually my real name. I adopted my mother’s last name which is Redman.
I use this when I’m hosting events. My alias Deformer that I use as a DJ and producer came from the various styles of music that I combine to get the dark and heavy sound that I like. Influences of Hardcore, Metal, Hip-hop, Soundtrack, Breakcore you name it. As long as it fits the Deformer concept, I’ll integrate it.

MC Mike Redman Tour Dates
MC Mike Redman Tour Dates

Were you a DJ first, or a producer?
I was a producer first. Experimenting with tape-loops, messing with Atari and Akai samplers. Mostly at other peoples places, because, believe it or not, only few people had a computer back when I started. I always bought records to sample sounds from, but started djing later on. Now my Deformer sets consist of 100% own productions.

How did you get into the scene?
Paul Elstak spotted me in the eary nineties. My first Hardcore gig was at the iconic Rotterdam based Energiehal. These events are memorable. Not only because there were always 10.000 hardcore fans loosing it at these parties, but also because the sound was new and still in a very experimental phase. It’s a shame that they eventually took the venue down.

What was the first record you ever purchased?
Wow, that was way back.. I’m not sure which came first but I got ‘Hey You!’ from The Rock Steady Crew from an uncle, which made a big impact. ‘Pass the Dutchie’ (Musical Youth) and the first Iron Maiden album were my first records. Later it really got out of hand and I now have a collection of a few thousand records of various genres…

Who was your biggest inspiration in the early part of your career?
That’s a very difficult question. I got bits of anything and anyone I’ve heard and seen I guess. Mostly unknowingly. But everything inspires. Sometimes the most un-inspirational artist can generate ideas. When it comes to House music definitely Holy Noise, Joey Beltram, Marc Acardipane and many others.

Would you describe your first DJ gig?
My first DJ gig was pretty scary I gotta admit. The biggest concern was to not let the needle skip. But luckily the first gig was a great success which got me a residency at the club the same night!

What was your favorite party you’ve ever played? Why?
There are multiple. I’ve had many wild gigs in The Netherlands, but later on the gigs abroad seem to stick more, because you never know what to expect and not only is the gig special, so is the environment and the people that you meet. It’s always exciting to explore new territory and other cultures.image

What was the funniest moment during any of your performances?
I have to dig deep for that one. There were many, many funny moments. Also some really bizarre moments that sometimes turn into funny moments when you look back at them..

What important changes have you witnessed from the time you got into the scene, until now?
People are talking bpm’s more than music sometimes. There are also more genres than DJ’s that play them. But it all got far more professional than it ever was I think. I mean, the events are smooth and there are more jobs in this industry now than one could ever imagine.

Did you ever think you would be touring the United States? What do you think the Trauma Tour will be like?
I’ve only been doing stuff on the East Coast, so thank you Trauma for getting me some vitamin D. I’m having high expectations. I can’t wait to have a good time with everyone.

What made you want to start producing Hardcore music?
Well, the Deformer stuff is mostly filed under Breakcore, but Hardcore to me was always a challenge and it still is. Most outsiders that are not necessarily fans of the genre will mostly leave the studio with much respect when they see what effort goes into making the music.

What is your favorite track that you have produced?
That’s a hard one. ‘The Possessor’, ‘Slasher’, ‘Freaqks’ and ‘Gamecore’ are somewhere in there, but I’m still working on my favorite track…

What advice would you give to up and coming Hardcore producers?
Keep breaking down barriers!

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Have any of the other artists on the Trauma tour ever inspired your work?
Definitely. The line-up is incredible and most of them have come a long way.

What are your top 3 favorite tracks of all time?

I can’t name a top three. This varies each day and with each mood-swing…

What was your favorite track of 2015 (that wasn’t your own)?
Omg, give me some time for this one..

Are there any exciting projects or gigs coming up you want our readers to know about?
Yeah, there is a release in the pipeline with The DJ Producer, Predator, N-Vitral and others. I’m currently also writing new lyrics for various artists, and check out my latest project Voodoom. This is a collaboration with Bong-Ra. Madness…

What artists would you like to collaborate with that you haven’t already?
I like to work with artists that dare to step out of their comfort zone and are passionate about their craft. The collaboration with Public Enemy was a dream come true as well as Chino XL. It was amazing to have collaborated with legendary filmstudio Full Moon Features. Working with Paul Elstak is always great. Rotterdam Terror Corps and maybe even a Metal band..

If there’s anything we haven’t asked, what else would you like to say to the readers of The Hard Data?
Don’t party by genre, have fun as much as you can and never stop exploring! The time is now, party on!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Redman